File publication, and specifically document publication, deals with providing content from one party to another in a structured way. Often, this structured way requires security, both at rest and in transmit, as well as accountability—knowing that who created and who retrieved which file, when the file was retrieved, and for what reason. Additionally, publishers may want to limit the functionality and operations available for the recipient on the file, such as prevent editing or printing. Moreover, publishers may wish to inform the user of such limitations, create some sort of legal obligation regarding what actions are allowed and, most importantly, control distribution and re-distribution of content.
One known solution is converting documents to images, and then presenting the images to recipients. Conventional image-generating (conversion) solutions pre-convert an original file to a file format to be distributed, store the converted file, and upon request provide the user with the converted version. Some solutions add watermark on images/PDFs after conversion and store the converted and watermarked version until retrieved. Some solutions may create a specific watermark for every copy provided to user, yet these solutions store the converted version and add the watermark later. This creates unnecessary file versions, unnecessary security risk (having a version stored in a non-secure storage), and operational complexity.
A conventional commercial solution is Box/Crocodoc. These products use conventional presentation of documents as images, so special techniques are used to protect the provided document in transit or at the receiving user interface, and lack secure storage.
Another conventional commercial solution is Watchdox. This product builds protection into the document, however the original document format is retained.
Another conventional solution is DRM (Data Rights Management) solutions. This solution requires a server to manage permissions and the original document format is retained.
Another conventional solution is DLP (data loss/leak prevention) solutions. These techniques protect documents from leaking out of a network. The original document format is retained.
A conventional solution is US application 20060010103 to Dale Malik for “Version control in a distributed computing environment”. In this application, Malik teaches maintaining and controlling different versions of electronic files in a distributed server environment. This provides a system to ensure that a file provided in response to a request from a local storage is the same as the master version stored remotely. This teaching is in essence the opposite of what is desired in securely providing files in which there is a benefit to every provided copy of an original file to be unique from every other provided copy.
Another conventional solution is U.S. Pat. No. 7,475,341 to Dale W. Malik for “Converting the format of a portion of an electronic document”. In this patent, Malik teaches converting searchable elements of a document to unsearchable images, and enables replacing the searchable elements with image replacements. This teaching specifically enables editing of the document content. In contrast, a desire when presenting protected publication of sensitive documents is to prevent editing of the provided document.
Another conventional solution is U.S. Pat. No. 6,601,108 to Eliyahu Marmor for “Automatic conversion system”. In this patent, Marmor teaches a technique specific to Internet hypertext documents for changing the document to enable a different representation of same content for a client, by changing the syntax to address user standard. This means that if two requests are sent with the same “user standard”, the resulting document will be the same. In contrast, a desire when providing a sensitive document is to provide a unique version for every retrieval.
Another conventional solution is U.S. Pat. No. 6,944,822 to Daniel Schreiber for “Method and apparatus for preventing reuse of text, images, and software transmitted via networks.” In this patent, Schreiber teaches a conventional technique for converting searchable text to images. A request for an original file results in providing the same provided file for each request. In contrast, a desire when providing a sensitive document is to provide a unique version for every retrieval.
Another conventional solution is KR 101057743 to Bae for “A system for distributing secured documents to outside users.” In this patent, Bae teaches a technique for inserting a watermark into an original document as part of format conversion and encoding. This is a conventional watermarking technique that results in providing the same provided file for each request. In contrast, a desire when providing a sensitive document is to provide a unique version for every retrieval.
Note that in all of the above-cited conventional teachings, there is a failure to address the need for authentication of requesting users and providing only the requested and authorized information to authenticated users. In addition, conventional techniques do not include features enabling accountability, often a critical feature for modern file retrieval systems.
There is therefore a need for a system and method for protected presentation of sensitive documents with authentication and accountability.